ADDEE8S 

GENERAL  ASSEMBL 

■•1        III!. 

FR1        VTERTAN    CfttJRCH 

illl. 

CONFEDERATE    STATES    OF    AMERICA, 


CHURCHES    OF    JESUS   CHRIST 


THROUGHOUT    THE     EARTH. 


A1''1'1"1  ':  ber.  hil. 


Published     by    order    of  the    Assembly. 


Tl%lHJc 


/- 


(V^4^ 


ADDEESS. 


The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyteriau  Church  in  the 
Confederate  States  of  America  to   all  the  Churches  of  Jesus 
Chrint  throughout  the  earth,  greeting :    Grace,    mercy   . 
peace  be  multiplied  upon  you  ! 

D  arly  Beloved  Brethren  : 

It  is  probably  known  to  you  that  the  Presbyteries  and  Synods  in  ili^ 
Confederate  States,  which  were  formerly  io  connection  with  the  G  moral 
A  -omblyof  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
have  renounced  the  jurisdiction  of  that  body;  and  dissolved  the  ties 
which  bound  them  ecclesiastically  with  their  brethren  of  the  North. 
This  act  of  separation  left  them  without  any  formal  union  among  them- 
s.  But  as  they  were  one  in  faith  and  order,  and  still  adhered  to 
their  old  standards,  measures  wen;  promptly  adopted  for  giving  express- 
ion to  their  unity,  by  the  organization  of  a  Supreme  Court,  upon  the 
model  of  the  one  whose  authority  they  had  just  relinquished.  Commi  - 
sioners,  duly  appointed,  from  all  the  Presbyteries  of  these  Confedi  rate 
States,  met  accordingly,  in  the  city  of  Augusta,  on  the  fourth  day  of 
December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-one,  and  then  and  there  proceeded  to  constitute  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 
The  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  Stave- — that 
is  to  say,  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  the  Form  of  Government,  the  Book  of  Discipline,  and  the 
Directory  for  Worship — were  unanimously  and  solemnly  declared  I 
the  Constitution  of  the  Church  in  the  Confederate  States,  with  no  other 
change  than  the  substitution  of  Confederate  for  United  wherever  the 
country  is  mentioned  in  the  standards.  The  Church,  therefore-,  in  these 
seceded  States,  presents  now  the  spectacle  of  a  separate,  independent  and 
and  complete  organization,  under  the  style  and  title  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America.  In  thus  taking  its  place 
among  sister  Churches  of  this  and  other  countries,  it  seems  proper  that 


^FWH-to 


ADDRESS    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 


it  should  set  forth  the  causes  which  have  impelled  it  to  separate  from 
the  Church  of  the  North,  and  to  indicate  a  general  view  of  the  course 
which  it  feels  it  incumbent  upon  it  to  pursue  in  the  new  circumstances 
in  which  it  is  placed. 

We  should  be  sorry  to  be  regarded  by  our  brethren  in  any  part  of  the 
world  as  guilty  of  schism.  We  are  not  conscious  of  any  purpose  to 
rend  the  body  of  Christ.  On  the  contrary,  our  aim  has  been  to  pro- 
mote the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace,  If  we  know  our 
own  hearts,  and  can  form  any  just  estimate  of  the  motives  which  have 
governed  us,  we  have  been  prompted  by  a  sincere  desire  to  promote  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  efficiency,  energy,  harmony  and  zeal  of  His  visible 
kingdom  in  the  earth.  We  have  separated  from  our  brethren  of  the 
North  as  Abraham  separated  from  Lot,  because  we  are  persuaded  that 
the  interests  of  true  religion  will  be  more  effectually  subserved  by  two 
independent  Churches,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  the  two  coun- 
tries are  placed,  than  by  one  united  body : 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  course  of  the  last  Assembly,  at  Philadelphia, 
conclusively  shows  that  if  we  should  remain  together,  the  political  ques- 
tions which  divide  us  as  citizens,  will  be  obtruded  on  our  Church  Courts, 
and  discussed  by  Christian  Ministers  and  Elders  with  all  the  acrimony} 
bitterness  and  rancour  with  which  such  questions  are  usually  discussed 
by  men  of  the  world.  Our  Assembly  would  present  a  mournful  spec- 
tacle of  strife  and  debate.  Commissioners  from  the  Northern  would 
meet  with  Commissioners  from  the  Southern  Confederacy,  to  wrangle 
over  the  questions  which  have  split  them  into  two  Confederacies,  and 
involved  them  in  furious  and  bloody  war.  They  would  denounce  each 
other,  on  the  one  hand,  as  tyrants  and  oppressors,  and  on  the  other,  as 
traitors  and  rebels.  The  Spirit  of  God  would  take  His  departure  from 
these  scenes  of  confusion,  and  leave  the  Church  lifeless  and  powerless, 
an  easy  prey  to  the  sectional  divisions  and  angry  passions  of  its  members. 
Two  nations,  under  any  circumstances,  except  those  of  perfect  homoge- 
neousness,  cannot  be  united  in  one  Church,  without  the  rigid  exclusion  of 
all  civil  and  secular  questions  from  its  halls.  Where  the  countries  differ 
in  their  customs  and  institutions,  and  view  each  other  with  an  eye  of 
jealousy  and  rivalry,  if  national  feelings  are  permitted  to  enter  the 
Church  Courts,  there  must  be  an  end  of  harmony  and  peace.  The  pre- 
judices of  the  man  and  the  citizen  will  prove  stronger  than  the  charity 
of  ihe  Christian.  When  they  have  allowed  themselves  to  denounce  each 
other  for  their  national  peculiarities,  it  will  be  hard  to  join  in  cordial 


j  >4     a 


IN   THE   CONFEDERATE    STATES    OF    AMERICA. 


fellowship  as  members  of  the  same  spiritual   i-imily.     Much  more  must 

this  be  the  case  where  the  nations  are  not  simply  rivals,   but  enemies- 

when  they  hate  each  other  with  a  cruel  hatred — when  they  arc  engaged 
in  a  ferocious  and  bloody  war,  and  when  the  worst  passions  of  human 
nature  are  stirred  to  their  very  depths.  An  Assembly  composed  of 
representatives  from  two  such  countries,  could  have  no  security  for  peace 
except  in  a  steady,  uncompromising  adherence  to  the  Scriptural  princi- 
ple, that  it  would  know  no  man  after  the  flesh  ;  that  it  would  abolish  the 
distinctions  of  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  and  free,  and  recognize  noth- 
ing but  the  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  moment  it  permits  itself 
to  know  the  Confederate  or  the  United  States,  the  moment  its  members 
meet  as  citizens  of  these  countries,  our  political  differences  will  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  house  of  God,  and  the  passions  of  the  forum  will  expel  the 
Spirit  of  Holy  Love  and  of  Christian  communion. 

We  cannot  condemn  a  man,  in  one  breath,  as  unfaithful  to  the  most 
solemn  earthly  interests,  his  country  and  his  race,  and  commend  him  in 
the  next  as  a  loyal  and  faithful  servant  of  his  God.  If  we  distrust  his 
patriotism,  our  confidence  is  apt  to  be  very  measured  in  his  piety.'  The 
old  adage  will  hold  here  as  in  other  things,  falsus  in  unoj'alsns  in 
omnibus. 

The  only  conceivable  condition,  therefore,  upon  which  the  Church  of 
the  North  and  the  South  could  remain  together  as  one  body,  with  any 
prospect  of  success,  is  the  rigorous  exclusion  of  the  questions  and  passions 
of  the  forum  from  its  halls  of  debate.     This  is  what  always  ought  to  be 
done.     The  provinces  of  Church  and  State   arc  perfectly  distinct,  and 
the  one  has  no  right  to  usurp  the  jurisdiction  of  the  other.     The  State  is 
a  natural  institute,    founded  in  the  constitution  of  man  as   moral   and 
social,  and  designed   to  realize  the  idea  of  justice.     It  is  the  society  of 
rights.     The  Church  is  a  supernatural   institute,  founded  in  the  facts  of 
redemption,  and  is  designed  to  realize  the  idea  of  grace.     It  is  the  so- 
ciety of  the  redeemed.     The  State  aims  at  social  order,  the  Church  at 
spiritual   holiness.     The  State   looks  to  the  visible  and   outward,  the 
Church  is  concerned  for  the  invisible  and  inward.     The  badge  of  the 
State's  authority  is  the  sword,  by  which  it  becomes  a  terror  to  evil  doers, 
and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well.    The  badge  of  the  Church's  authority 
is  the  keys,  by  which  it  opens  and  shuts  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  ac- 
cording as  men  are  believing  or  impenitent.     The  power  of  the  Church 
is  exclusively  spiritual,  that  of  the  State  includes  the  exercise  of  force- 
The  Constitution  of  the  Church  is  a  Divine  revelation— the  Constitution 


ADDRESS    OF   THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 


of  the  State  must  be  determined  by  human  reason  and  the  course  of 
Providential  events.  The  Church  has  no  right  to  construct  or  modify  a 
government  for  the  State,  and  the  State  has  no  right  to  frame  a  creed 
or  polity  for  the  Church.  They  are  as  planets  moving  in  different 
orbits,  and  unless  each  is  confined  to  its  own  track,  the  consequences 
may  be  rts  disastrous  in  the  moral  world  as  the  collision  of  different 
spheres  in  the  world  of  matter.  It  is  true  that  there  is  a  point  at  which 
their  respective  jurisdictions  seem  to  meet — in  the  idea  of  duty.  But 
even  duty  is  viewed  by  each  in  very  different  lights.  The  Church  enjoins 
it  as  obedience  to  God,  and  the  State  enforces  it  as  the  safeguard  of 
order.  But  there  can  be  no  collision,  unless  one  or  the  other  blunders 
as  to  (ho  things  that  are  materially  right.  When  the  State  makes 
wicked  law,--,  contradicting  the  eternal  principles  of  rectitude,  the  Church 
is  at  liberty  to  testify  against  them;  and  humbly  to  petition  that  they 
may  be  repealed.  In  like  manner,  if  the  Church  becomes  seditious  and 
a  disturber  of  the  peace,  the  State  has  a  right  to  abate  the  nuisance.  In 
ordinary  cases,  however,  there  is  not  likely  to  be  a  collision.  x\mong  a 
Christian  people,  there  is  little  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  radical 
distinctions  of  right  and  wrong.  The  only  serious  danger  is  where 
moral  duty  is  conditioned  upon  a  political  question.  Under  the  pretext 
of  inculcating  duty,  the  Church  may  usurp  the  power  to  determine  the 
question  which  conditions  it  and  that  is  precisely  what  she  is  debarred 
from  doing.  The  condition  must  be  given.  She  must  accept  it  from 
the  State,  and  then  her  own  course  is  clear.  If  Caosar  is  your  master, 
then  pay  tribute  to  him  ;  but  whether  the  if  holds,  whether  Caesar  is 
your  master  or  not,  whether  he  ever  had  any  just  authority,  whether  he 
now  retains  it,  or  has  forfeited  it,  these  are  points  which  the  Church  has 
no  commission  to  adjudicate. 

Had  these  principles  been  steadily  maintained  by  the  Assembly  at 
Philadelphia,  it  is  possible  that  the  ecclesiastical  separation  of  the  North 
and  the  South  might  have  been  deferred  for  years  to  come.  Our  Pres- 
byteries, many  of  them,  clung  with  tenderness  to  the  recollections  of  the 
past.  Sacred  memories  gathered  around  that  venerable  Church  which 
had  breasted  many  a  storm  and  trained  our  fathers  for  glory.  It  had 
always  been  distinguished  for  its  conservative  influence,  and  many  fondly 
hoped  that,  even  in  the  present  emergency,  it  would  raise  its  placid  and 
serene  head  above  the  tumults  of  popular  passion,  and  bid  defiance  to 
the  angry  billows  which  rolled  at  its  feet.  We  expected  it  to  bow  in 
reverence  only  at  the  name  of  Jesus.     Many  dreamed  that  it  would 


utterly  refuse  to  know  either  Confederates  or  Federalists,   and  utterly 
refuse  to  give  any  authoritative  decree  without  a  "  thus  saith  the  Lord." 
It  was  ardently  desired  that  the  sublime  spectacle  might  be  presented  of 
one  Church  upon  earth  combining  in  cordial  fellowship  and  in  holy  love 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  in  different  and  even  in  hostile  lands.     But,  alas ! 
for  the  weakness  of  man,  these  golden  visions  were  soon  dispelled.    The 
first  thing  which  roused  our  Presbyteries  to  look  the  question  of  separa- 
tion seriously  in  the  face,   was  the  course  of  the  Assembly  in  venturing 
to  determine,  as  a  Court  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  it  did  by  necessary  im- 
plication, the  true  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
as  to  the  kind  of  government  it  intended  to  form.     A  political  theory 
was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  propounded,  which  made   secession  a 
crime,  the  seceding  States  rebellious,  and  the  citizens  who  obeyed  them 
traitors.     We  say  nothing  here  as  to  the  righteousness  or  unrighteous- 
ness of  these  decrees.     What  we    maintain  is,    that  whether  ri^ht  or 
wrong,  the  Church  had  no  right  to  make  them — she  transcended  her 
sphere,  and  usurped  the  duties  of  the  State.     The  discussion  of  these 
questions,  we. are  sorry  to  add,  was  in  the  spirit  and  temper  of  partizan 
declaimers.  The  Assembly,  driven  from  its  ancient  moorings,  was  tossed 
to  and  fro  by  the  waves  of  popular  passion.     Like  Pilate,  it  obeyed  the 
clamor   of  the  multitude,    and  though  acting  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  it 
kissed  the  sceptre  and  bowed  the  knee  to  the   mandates  of  Northern 
phrenzy.     The  Church  was  converted  into  the  forum,  and  the  Assembly 
was  henceforward  to  become  the  arena  of  sectional  divisions  and  national 
animosities. 

We  frankly  admit  that  the  mere  unconstitutionality  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  last  Assembly  is  not,  in  itself  considered,  a  sufficient  ground 
of  separation.  It  is  the  consequences  of  these  proceedings  which  make 
them  so  offensive.  It  is  the  door  which  they  open  for  the  introduction  of 
the  worst  passions  of  human  nature  into  the  deliberations  of  Church 
Courts.  The  spirit  of  these  proceedings,  if  allowed  to  prevail,  would 
forever  banish  peace  from  the  Church,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  hope 
that  the  tide  which  has  begun  to  flow  can  soon  be  arrested.  The  two 
Confederacies  hate  each  other  more  intensely  now  than  they  did  in  May 
and  if  their  citizens  should  come  together  upon  the  same  floor,  whatever 
might  be  the  errand  that  brought  them  there,  they  could  not  be  restrain- 
ed from  smiting  each  other  with  the  fist  of  wickedness.  For  the  sake 
of  peace,  therefore,  for  Christian  charity,  for  the  honor  of  the  Church, 
and  for  the  glory  of  God,  we  have  been  constrained,   as  much  as  in  us 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


lies,  to  remove  all  occasion  of  offence.  We  have  quietly  separated,  and 
we  are  grateful  to  God  that  while  leaving  for  the  Sake  of  peace,  we  leave 
it  with  the  humble  consciousness  that  we,  ourselves,  have  never  given 
occasion  to  break  the  peace.  We  have  never  confounded  Crcsar  and 
Christ,  and  we  have  never  mixed  the  issues  of  this  world  with  the  weighty 
matters  that  properly  belong  to  us  as  citizens  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

2.  Though  the  immediate  occasion  of  separation  was  the  course  of  the 
General  Assembly  at  Philadelphia  in  relation  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  the  war,  yet  there  is  another  ground  on  which  the  independent 
organization  of  the  i  Southern  Church  can  be  amply  and  scripturally 
maintained.  The  unity  of  the  Church  does  not  require  a  formal  bond 
of  union  among  all  the  congregations  of  believers  throughout  the  earth. 
It  does  not  demand  a  vast  imperial  monarchy  like  that  of  Rome,  nor  a 
strictly  universal  council,  like  that  to  which  the  complete  development  of 
Presbyrerianisni  would  naturally  give  rise.  The  Church  Catholic  is  one 
in  Christ,  but  it  is  not  necessarily  one  visible,  all-absorbing  organization 
upon  earth.  There  is  no  schism  where  there  is  no  breach  of  charity- 
Churches  may  be  perfectly  at  one  in  every  principle  of  faith  and  ordcr5 
and  yet  geographically  distinct,  and  mutually  independent.  As  the 
unity  of  the  human  race  is  not  disturbed  by  its  division  into  countries 
and  nations,  so  the  unity  of  the  spiritual  seed  of  Christ  is  neither  broken 
nor  impaired  by  separation  and  division  into  various  Church  constitu- 
tions. Accordingly,  in  all  Protestant  countries,  Church  organizations 
have  followed  national  lines.  The  Calvinistic  Churches  of  Switzerland 
are  distinct  from  the  Reformed  Church  of  France.  The  Presbyterians 
of  Ireland  belong  to  a  different  Church  from  the  Presbyterians  of  Scot- 
land, and  the  Presbyterians  of  this  country  constitute  a  Church,  in  like 
manner,  distinct  from  all  other  Churches  on  the  globe.  That  the  divi- 
sion into  national  Churches,  that  is.  Churches  bounded  by  national  lines, 
is,  in  the  present  condition  of  human  nature,  a  benefit,  seems  to  us  too 
obvious  for  proof.  It  realizes  to  the  Church  Catholic  all  the  advantages 
of  a  division  of  labor.  It  makes  a  Church  organization  homogeneous  and 
compact — it  stimulates  holy  rivalry  and  zeal — it  removes  all  grounds  of 
suspicion  and  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  State.  What  is  lost  in  expan- 
sion is  gained  in  energy.  The  Church  Catholic,  as  thus  divided,  and  yet 
spiritually  one,  divided,  but  not  rent,  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
great  philosophical  principle  which  pervades  all  nature — the  co-existence 
of  the  one  with  the  many. 

If  it  is  desirable  that  each  nation   should  contain  a  separate  and  an 


IX   THE    CONFEDERATE    STATES    OF   AMERICA. 


independent  Church,  the  Presbyteries  of  these  Confederate  States  need 
no  apology  for  bowing  to  the  decree  of  Providence,  which,  in  withdraw- 
ing their  country  from  the  government  of  the  United  States,  has,  at  the 
same  time,  determined  that  they  should  withdraw  from  the  Church  of 
their  fathers.  It  is  not  that  they  have  ceased  to  love  it — not  that  they 
have  abjured  its  ancient  principles,  or  forgotten  its  glorious  history.  It  is 
to  give  these  same  principles  a  richer,  freer,  fuller  development  among 
ourselves  than  they  possibly  could  receive  under  foreign  culture.  It  is 
precisely  because  we  love  that  Church  as  it  was,  and  that  Church  as  it 
should  be,  that  we  have  resolved,  as  far  as  in  us  lies,  to  realise  its  grand 
idea  in  the  country,  and  under  the  Government  where  God  has  cast  our 
lot.  With  the  supreme  control  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  our  own  hands, 
we  may  be  able,  in  some  competent  measure,  to  consummate  this  result. 
In  subjection  to  a  foreign  power,  we  could  no  more  accomplish  it  than 
the  Church  in  the  United  States  could  have  been  developed  in  depend- 
ence upon  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland.  The  difficulty  there 
would  have  been,  not  the  distance  of  Edinburgh  from  Xcw  York,  Phila- 
delphia or  Charleston,  but  the  difference  in  the  manners,  habits,  customs 
and  ways  of  thinking,  the  social,  civil  and  political  institutions  of  the 
people.  These  same  difficulties  exist  in  relation  to  the  Confederate  and 
United  States,  and  render  it  eminently  proper  that  the  Church  in  each 
should  be  as  separate  and  independent  as  the  Governments. 

In  addition  to  this,  there  is  one  difference  which  so  radically  and 
fundamentally  distinguishes  the  North  and  the  South,  that  it  is  becoming 
every  day  more  and  more  apparent  that  the  religious,  as  well  as  the 
secular  interests  of  both  will  be  more  effectually  promoted  by  a  complete 
and  lasting  separation.  The  antagonism  of  Northern  and  Southern  sen- 
timent on  the  subject  of  slavery  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  difficulties 
which  have  resulted  in  the  dismemberment  of  the  Federal  Union,  and 
involved  us  in  the  horrors  of  an  unnatural  war.  The  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  has  been  enabled  by  the  Divine  grace  to 
pursue,  for  the  most  part,  an  eminently  conservative,  because  a 
thoroughly  scriptural,  policy  in  relation  to  this  delicate  question.  It  has 
planted  itself  upon  the  Word  of  God,  and  utterly  refused  to  make  slave- 
holding  a  sin,  or  non-slavcholding  a  term  of  communion.  But  though 
both  sections  are  agreed  as  to  this  general  principle,  it  is  not  to  be  dis- 
guised that  the  North  exercises  a  deep  and  settled  antipathy  to  slavery 
itself,  while  the  South  is  equally  zealous  in  its  defence.  Kecent  events 
can  have  no  other  effect  than  to  confirm  the  antipathy  on  the  one  hand 


10  ADDRESS   OF   THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 


and  strengthen  the  attachment  on  the  other.  The  Northern  section  of 
the  Church  stands  in  the  awkward  predicament  of  maintaining,  in  one 
breath,  that  slavery  is  an  evil  which  ought  to  be  abolished,  and  of  assert- 
ing, in  the  next,  that  it  is  net  a  sin  to  be  visited  by  exclusion  from  com- 
munion of  the  saints.  The  consequence  is,  that  it  plays  partly  into  the 
hands  of  abolitionists  and  partly  into  the  hands  of  slaveholders,  and 
weakens  its  influence  with  both.  It  occupies  the  position  of  a  prevari- 
cating witness  whom  neither  party  will  trust.  It  would  be  better, 
therefore,  for  the  moral  power  of  the  Northern  section  of  the  Church  to 
get  entirely  quit  of  the  subject.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  intuitively 
obvious  that  the  Southern  section  of  the  Church,  while  even  partially 
under  the  control  of  those  who  are  hostile  to  slavery,  can  never  have  free 
and  unimpeded  access  to  the  slave  population.  Its  ministers  and  elders 
will  always  be  liable  to  some  degree  of  suspicion.  In  the  present 
circumstances,  Northern  alliance  would  be  absolutely  fatal.  It  would 
utterly  preclude  the  Church  from  a  wide  and  commanding  field  of 
usefulness.  This  is  too  dear  a  price  to  be  paid  for  a  nominal  union. 
"We  cannot  afford  to  give  up  these  millions  of  souls  and  consign  them,  so 
far  as  our  efforts  are  concerned,  to  hopeless  perdition,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  an  outward  unity  which,  after  all,  is  an  empty  shadow.  If 
we  would  gird  ourselves  heartily  and  in  earnest,  for  the  work  which  God 
has  set  before  us,  we  must  have  the  control  of  our  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
and  declare  ourselves  separate  and  independent. 

And  here  we  may  venture  to  lay  before  the  Christian  world  our  views 
as  a  Church,  upon  the  subject  of  slavery.     We  beg  a  candid  hearing. 

In  the  first  place,  we  would  have  it  distinctly  understood  that,  in  our 
ecclesiastical  capacity,  we  are  neither  the  friends  nor  the  foes  of  slavery, 
that  is  to  say,  we  have  no  commission  either  to  propagate  or  abolish  it. 
The  policy  of  its  existence  or  non-existence  is  a  question  which  exclu- 
sively belongs  to  the  State.  We  have  no  right,  as  a  Church,  to  enjoin 
it  as  a  duty,  or  to  condemn  it  as  a  sin.  Our  business  is  with  the  duties 
which  spring  from  the  relation  ;  the  duties  of  the  masters  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  their  slaves  on  the  other.  These  duties  we  are  to  proclaim 
and  to  enforce  with  spiritual  sanctions.  The  social,  civil,  political  pro- 
blems connected  with  this  great  subject  transcend  our  sphere,  as  God  has 
not  entrusted  to  His  Church  the  organization  of  society,  the  construction 
of  Governments,  nor  the  allotment  of  individuals  to  their  various  stations. 
The  Church  has  as  much  right  to  preach  to  the  monarchies  of  Europe, 
and  the  despotism  of  Asia,  the  doctrines  of  republican  equality,  as  to 


IN   THE    CONFEDERATE    STATES    OF   AMERICA.  11 


preach  to  the  Governments  of  (he  South  the  extirpation  of  slavery.  This 
position  is  impregnable,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  slavery  is  a  sin. 
Upon  every  other  hypothesis,  it  is  so  clearly  a  question  for  the  State,  that 
the  proposition  would  never  for  a  moment  have  been  doubted,  had  there 
not  been  a  foregone  conclusion  in  relation  to  its  moral  character.  Is 
slavery,  then,  a  sin  ? 

In  answering  this  question,  as  a  Church,  let  it  be  distinctly  borne  in 
mind  that  the  only  rule  of  judgment  is  the  written  worJ  of  God.  The 
Church  knows  nothing  of  the  intuitions  of  reason  or  the  deductions  of 
philosophy,  except  those  reproduced  in  the  Sacred  Canon.  She  has 
a  positive  constitution  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  has  no  right  to  utter 
a  single  syllable  upon  any  subject,  except  as  the  Lord  puts  words  in 
her  mouth.  She  is  founded,  in  other  words,  upon  express  revelation. 
Her  creed  is  an  authoritative  testimony  of  God,  and  not  a  speculation, 
and  what  she  proclaims,  she  must  proclaim  with  the  infallible  certitude 
of  faith,  and  not  with  the  hesitating  assent  of  an  opiuion.  The  question* 
(hen,  is  brought  within  a  narrow  compass:  Do  the  Scriptures  directly 
or  indirectly  condemn  slavery  as  a  sin  ?  If  they  do  not,  the  dispute  is 
ended,  for  the  Church,  without  forfeiting  her  character,  dares  not  go 
beyond  them. 

Now,  we  venture  to  assert  that  if  men  had  drawn  their  conclusions 
upon  this  subject  only  from  the  Bible,  it  would  no  more  have  entered  into 
any  human  head  to  denounce  slavery  as  a  sin,  than  to  denounce  monarchy, 
aristocracy  or  poverty.  The  truth  is,  men  have  listened  to  what  they 
falsely  considered  as  primitive  intuitions,  or  as  necessary  deductions 
from  primitive  cognitions,  and  then  have  gone  to  the  Bible  to  confirm 
the  crotchets  of  their  vain  philosophy.  They  have  gone  there  deter- 
mined to  find  a  particular  result,  and  the  consequence  is,  that  they  leave 
with  having  made,  instead  of  having  interpreted,  Scripture.  Slavery  is 
no  new  thing.  It  has  not  only  existed  for  ages  in  the  world,  but  it  has 
existed,  under  every  dispensation  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  in  the  Church 
of  God.  Indeed,  the  first  organization  of  the  Church  as  a  visible  socie- 
ty, separate  and  distinct  from  the  unbelieving  world,  was  inaugurated  in 
the  family  of  a  slaveholder.  Among  the  very  first  persons  to  whom  the 
seal  of  circumcision  was  affixed,  were  the  slaves  of  the  father  of  the  faith- 
ful, some  born  in  his  house,  and  others  bought  with  his  money.  Slave- 
ry again  re-appears  under  the  Law.  God  sanctions  it  in  the  first  table 
of  the  Decalogue,  and  Moses  treats  it  as  an  institution  to  be  regulated, 
not  abolished  ;  legitimated  and  not  condemned.     We  come  down  to  the 


12        ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


age  of  the  New  Testament,  and  we  find  it  again  in  the  Churches  founded 
by  the  Apostles  under  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
These  facts  are  utterly  amazing,  if  slavery  is  the  enormous  sin  which  its 
enemies  represent  it  to  be.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  the  Scriptures 
have  treated  it  only  in  a  general,  incidental  way,  without  any  clear  im- 
plication as  to  its  moral  character.  Moses  surely  made  it  the  subject  of 
express  and  positive  legislation,  and  the  Apostles  are  equally  explicit  in 
inculcating  the  duties  which  spring  from  both  sides  of  the  relation. 
They  treat  slaves  as  bound  to  obey  and  inculcate  obedience  as  an  office 
of  religion — a  thing  wholly  self-contradictory,  if  the  authority  exercised 
over  them  were  unlawful  and  iniquitous. 

But  what  puts  this  subject  in  a  still  clearer  light,  is  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  sought  to  extort  from  the  Scriptures  a  contrary  testimony. 
The  notion  of  direct  and  explicit  condemnation  is  given  up.  The  at- 
tempt is  to  show  jthat  the  genius  and  spirit  of  Christianity  are  opposed 
to  it — that  its  great  cardinal  principles  of  virtue  are  utterly  against  it. 
Much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  Golden  Rule  and  upon  the  general  denun- 
ciations of  tyranny  and  oppression.  To  all  this  we  reply,  that  no  prin- 
ciple is  clearer  than  that  a  case  positively  excepted  cannot  be  included 
under  a  general  rule.  Let  us  concede,  for  a  moment,  that  the  laws  of 
love,  and  the  condemnation  of  tyranny  and  oppression,  seem  logically  to 
involve,  as  a  result,  the  condemnation  of  slavery ;  yet,  if  slavery  is  af- 
terwards expressly  mentioned  and  treated  as  a  lawful  relation,  it  obvious- 
ly follows,  unless  Scripture  is  to  be  interpreted  as  inconsistent  with  itself, 
that  slavery  is,  by  necessary  implication,  excepted.  The  Jewish  law 
forbade,  as  a  general  rule,  the  marriage  of  a  man  with  his  brother's 
wife.  The  same  law  expressly  enjoined  the  same  marriage  in  a  given 
case.  The  given  case  was,  therefore,  an  exception,  and  not  to  be  treated 
as  a  violation  of  the  general  rule.  The  law  of  love  has  always  been  the 
law  of  God.  It  was  enunciated  by  Moses  almost  as  clearly  as  it  was 
enunciated  by  Jesus  Christ.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  law,  Moses  and 
the  Apostles  alike  sanctioned  the  relation  of  slavery.  The  conclusion  is 
inevitable,  either  that  the  law  is  not  opposed  to  it,  or  that  slavery  is  an 
excepted  case.  To  say  that  the  prohibition  of  tyranny  and  oppression 
include  slavery,  is  to  beg  the  whole  question.  Tyranny  and  oppression 
involve  either  the  unjust  usurpation  or  the  unlawful  exercise  of  power. 
It  is  the  unlawfulness,  either  in  its  principle  or  measure,  which  consti- 
tutes the  core  of  the  sin.  Slavery  must,  therefore,  be  proved  to  be 
unlawful,   before  it  can  be  referred  to  any  such  category.     The  master 


IN  THE   CONFEDERATE   STATES   OF   AMERICA.  13 


may,  indeed,  abuse  his  power,   but  lie  oppresses  not  simply  as  a  master, 
but  as  a  wicked  master. 

But,  apart  from  all  this,  the  law  of  love  is  simply  the  inculcation  of 
universal  equity.  It  implies  nothing  as  to  the  existence  of  various  ranks 
and  gradations  in  society.  The  interpretation  which  makes  it  repudiate 
slavery  would  make  it  equally  repudiate  all  social,  civil  and  political  in- 
equalities. Its  meaning  is,  not  that  we  should  conform  ourselves  to  the 
arbitrary  expectations  of  others,  but  that  we  should  render  unto  them 
precisely  the  same  measure  which,  if  we  were  in  their  circumstances,  it 
would  be  reasonable  and  just  in  us  to  demand  at  their  hands.  It  con- 
demns slavery,  therefore,  only  upon  the  supposition  that  slavery  is  a  sin- 
ful relation — that  is,  he  who  extracts  the  prohibition  of  slavery  from  the 
Golden  Rule,  begs  the  very  point  in  dispute. 

We  cannot  prosecute  the  argument  in  detail,  but  we  have  said  enough 
we  think,  to  vindicate  the  position  of  the  Southern  Church.  We  have 
assumed  no  new  attitude.  We  stand  exactly  were  the  Church  of  God 
has  always  stood — from  Abraham  to  Moses,  from  Moses  to  Christ,  from 
Christ  to  the  Reformers,  and  from  the  Reformers  to  ourselves.  We 
stand  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles,  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  being  the  Chief  corner  stone.  Shall  we  be  excluded  from  the 
fellowship  of  our  brethren  in  other  lands,  because  we  dare  not  depart  from 
the  charter  of  our  faith  ?  Shall  we  be  branded  with  the  stigma  of  re- 
proach, because  we  cannot  consent  to  corrupt  the  word  of  God  to  suit 
the  intuitions  of  an  infidel  philosophy  ?  Shall  our  names  be  cast  out  as 
evil,  and  the  finger  of  scorn  pointed  at  us,  because  we  utterly  refuse  to 
break  our  communion  with  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  with  Moses, 
David  and  Isaiah,  with  Apostles,  Prophets  and  Martyrs,  with  all  the 
noble  army  of  confessors  who  have  gone  to  glory  from  slave-holding 
countries  and  from  a  slave-holding  Church,  without  ever  having  dreamed 
that  they  were  living  in  mortal  sin,  by  conniving  at  slavery  in  the  midst 
of  them  ?  If  so,  we  shall  take  consolation  in  the  cheering  conscious- 
ness that  the  Master  has  accepted  us.  We  may  be  denounced,  despised 
and  cast  out  of  the  Synagogues  of  our  brethren.  But  while  they  are 
wrangling  about  the  distinctions  of  men  according  to  the  flesh,  we  shall 
go  forward  in  our  Divine  work,  and  confidently  anticipate  that,  in  the 
great  day,  as  the  consequence  of  our  humble  labors,  we  shall  meet  mil- 
lions of  glorified  spirits,  who  have  come  up  from  the  bondage  of  earth 
to  a  nobler  freedom  than  human  philosophy  ever  dreamed  of.  Others, 
if  they  please,  may  spend  their  time  in  declaiming  on  the  tyranny  of 


14  ADDRESS    OF   THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 


earthly  masters  ;  it  will  be  our  aim  to  resist  the  real  tyrants  which  op- 
press the  soul — Sin  and  Satan.  These  are  the  foes  against  whom  we 
shall  find  it  employment  enough  to  wage  a  successful  war.  And  to  this 
holy  war  it  is  the  purpose  of  our  Church  to  devote  itself  with  redoubled 
energy.  We  feel  that  the  souls  of  our  slaves  are  a  solemn  trust,  and  we 
shall  strive  to  present  them  faultless  and  complete  before  the  presence  of 
God. 

Indeed,  as  we  contemplate  their  condition  in  the  Southern  States,  and 
contrast  it  with  that  of  their  fathers  before  them,  and  thafof  their  breth- 
ren in  the  present  day  in  their  native  land,  we  cannot  but  accept  it  as  a 
gracious  Providence  that  they  have  been  brought  in  such  numbers  to  our 
shores,  and  redeemed  from  the  bondage  of  barbarism  and  sin.  Slavery 
to  them  has  certainly  been  overruled  for  the  greatest  good.  It  has  been 
a  link  in  the  wondrous  chain  of  Providence,  through  which  many  sons 
and  daughters  have  been  made  heirs  of  the  heavenly  inheritance.  The 
Providential  result  is,  of  course,  no  justification,  if  the  thing  is  intrinsi- 
cally wrong ;  but  it  is  certainly  a  matter  of  devout  thanksgiving,  and 
no  obscure  intimation  of  the  will  and  purpose  of  God,  and  of  the  conse- 
quent duty  of  the  Church.  We  cannot  forbear  to  say,  however,  that  the 
general  operation  of  the  system  is  kindly  and  benevolent ;  it  is  a  real 
and  effective  discipline,  and  without  it,  we  arc  profoundly  persuaded  that 
the  African  race  in  the  midst  of  us  can  never  be  elevated  in  the  scale  of 
being.  As  long  as  that  race,  in  its  comparative  degradation,  co-exists, 
side  by  side,  with  the  white,  bondage  is  its  normal  condition. 

As  to  the  endless  declamation  about  human  rights,  we  have  only  to 
say  that  human  rights  are  not  a  fixed,  but  a  fluctuating  quantity.  Their 
sum  is  not  the  same  in  any  two  nations  on  the  globe.  The  rights  of 
Englishmen  are  one  thing,  the  rights  of  Frenchmen  another.  There  is 
a  minimum  without  which  a  man  cannot  be  responsible  ;  there  is  a  max- 
imum which  expresses  the  highest  degree  of  civilization  and  of  Christian 
culture.  The  education  of  the  species  consists  in  its  ascent  along  this 
line.  As  you  go  up,  the  number  of  rights  increases,  but  the  number  of 
individuals  who  possess  them  diminishes.  As  you  come  down  the  line, 
rights  are  diminished,  but  the  individuals  are  multiplied.  It  is  just  the 
opposite  of  the  predicamental  scale  of  the  logicians.  There  comprehen- 
sion diminishes  as  you  ascend  and  extension  increases,  and  comprehen- 
sion increases  as  you  descend  and  extension  diminishes.  Now,  when  it 
is  said  that  slavery  is  inconsistent  with  human  rights,  we  crave  to  under- 
stand what  point  in  this  line  is  the  slave  conceived  to  occupy.     There 


IN  THE   CONFEDERATE   STATES   OF  AMERICA. 


are,  no  doubt,  many  rights  which  belong  to  other  men— to  Englishmen, 
to  Frenchmen,  to  his  master,  for  example— which  are  denied?  to  him! 
But  is  he  fit  to  possess  them  ?  Has  God  qualified  him  to  meet  the  re- 
sponsibilities which  their  possession  necessarily  implies?  His  place  in 
the  scale  is  determined  by  his  competency  to  fulfil  its  duties.  There  are 
other  rights  which  he  certainly  possesses,  without  which  he  could  neither 
be  human  nor  accountable.  Before  slavery  can  be  charged  with  doin- 
him  injustice,  it  must  be  shown  that  the  minimum  which  falls  to  his  lot 
at  the  bottom  of  the  line  is  out  of  proportion  to  his  capacity  and  culture 
--a  thing  which  can  never  be  done  by  abstract  speculation.  The  truth 
is,  the  education  of  the  human  race  for  liberty  and  virtue,  is  a  vast  Provi- 
dential scheme,  and  God  assigns  to  every  man,  by  a  wise  and  holy  de- 
cree, the  precise  place  he  is  to  occupy  in  the  great  moral  school  of 
humanity,  The  scholars  are  distributed  into  classes,  according  to  their 
competency  and  progress.     For  God  is  in  history. 

To  avoid  the  suspicion  of  a  conscious  weakness  of  our  cause,   when 
contemplated  from  the  side  of  pure  speculation,  we  may  advert  for  a 
moment  to  those  pretended  intuitions  which  stamp  the  reprobation  of 
humanity  upon  this  ancient  and  hoary  institution.     We  admit  that  there 
are  primitive  principles  in  morals  which  lie  at  the  root  of  human  con- 
sciousness.    But  the  question  is,  how  are  we  to  distinguish  them  ?    The 
subjective  feeling  of  certainty  is  no  adequate  criterion,  as  that  is  equally 
felt  m  reference  to  crotchets  and  hereditary  prejudices.     The  very  point 
is  to  know  when  this  certainty  indicates  a  primitive  cognition,  and  when 
it  does  not.     There  must,  therefore,  be  some  eternal  test,   and  whatever 
cannot  abide  that  test  has  no  authority  as  a  primary  truth.     That  test 
is  an  inward  necessity  of  thought,  which,  in  all  minds  at  the  proper  stage 
ot  maturity  is  absolutely  universal.     Whatever  is  universal  is  natural. 
We  are  willing  that  slavery  should  be  tried  by  this  standard.     We  arc 
willing  to  abide  by  the  testimony  of  the  race,  and  if  man,  as  man,  has 
every  where  condemned  It — If  all  human  laws  have  prohibitedit  as  crime 
-it  it  stands  m  the  same  category  with  malice,  murder  and  theft,  then  we 
are  willing  m  the  name  of  humanity,  to  renounce  it,  and  to  renounce  it 
torever.     But  what  if  the  overwhelming  majority  of  mankind  have  ap- 
proved it?  what   if  philosophers  and    statesmen  have  justified  it,   and 
the  laws  of  all  nations  acknowledged  it ;  what  then  becomes  of  these  lumi- 
nous intuitions  ?     They  are  an  ignis  faUtus,  mistaken  for  a  star. 

We  have  now,  brethren,  in  a  brief  compass,  for  the   nature  of  this 
address  admits  only  of  an  outline,  opened  to  you  our  whole  hearts  upon 


16 


ADDRESS  OP  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


this  delicate  and  vexed  subject.  We  have  concealed  nothing.  We 
have  sought  to  conciliate  no  sympathy  by  appeals  to  your  charity.  We 
have  tried  our  cause  by  the  Word  of  God ;  and  though  protesting  against 
its  authority  to  judge  in  a  question  concerning  the  duty  of  the  Church, 
we  have  not  refused  to  appear  at  the  tribunal  of  reason.  Arc  we  not 
right,  in  view  of  all  the  preceding  considerations,  in  remitting  the  social, 
civil  and  political  problems  connected  with  slavery  to  the  State  ?  Is  it 
not  a  subject,  save  in  the  moral  duties  which  spring  from  it,  which  lies 
beyond  the  province  of  the  Church  ?  Have  we  any  right  to  make  it  an 
element  in  judging  of  Christian  character  ?  Are  we  not  treading  in 
the  foot-steps  of  the  flock  ?  Are  we  are  not  acting  as  Christ  and  His 
Apostles  have  acted  before  us  ?  Is  it  not  enough  for  us  to  pray  and 
labor,  in  our  lot,  that  all  men  may  be  saved,  without  meddling  as  a 
Church  with  the  technical  distinction  of  their  civil  life  ?  We  leave  the 
matter  with  you.  We  offer  you  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  It  is  for 
you  to  accept  it  or  reject  it.  We  have  done  our  duty.  We  can  do  no 
more.  Truth  is  more  precious  than  union,  and  if  you  cast  us  out  as 
sinners,  the  breach  of  charity  is  not  with  us,  as  long  as  we  walk  accord- 
ing to  the  light  of  the  written  word. 

The  ends  which  we  propose  to  accomplish  as  a  Church  arc  the  same 
as  those  which  are  proposed  by  every  other  Church.  To  proclaim 
God's  truth  as  a  witness  to  the  nations ;  to  gather  his  elect  from  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth,  and  through  the  Word,  Ministries  and  Ordinances 
to  train  them  for  eternal  life,  is  the  great  business  of  His  people.  The 
only  thing  that  will  be  at  all  peculiar  to  us,  is  the  manner  in  which  we 
shall  attempt  to  discharge  our  duty.  In  almost  every  department  of 
labor,  except  the  pastoral  care  of  congregations,  it  has  been  usual  for  the 
Church  to  resort  to  societies  more  or  less  closely  connected  with  itself, 
and  yet,  logically  and  really  distinct.  It  is  our  purpose  to  xely  upon  the 
regular  organs  of  our  government,  and  executive  agencies  directly  and 
immediately  responsible  to  them.  We  wish  to  make  the  Church,  not 
merely  a  superintendent,  but  an  agent.  We  wish  to  develope  the  idea 
that  the  congregation  of  believers,  as  visibly  organized,  is  the  very 
society  or  corporation  which  is  divinely  called  to  do  the  work  of  the 
Lord.  We  shall,  therefore,  endeavor  to  do  what  has  'never  yet  been 
adequately  done — bring  out  the  energies  of  our  Presbyterian  system  of 
government.  From  the  Session  to  the  Assembly  we  shall  strive  to  enlist 
all  our  courts,  as  courts,  in  every  department  of  Christian  effort,  We 
are  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  we  are  intensely  Presbyterian.     We 


IX    TME    CONFEDERATE    STATES    OF    AMERICA.  17 


embrace  all  other  denominations  in  the  arms  of  Christian  fellowship  and 
love,  but  our  own  scheme  of  government  we  humbly  believe  to  be 
according  to  the  pattern  shown  in  the  Mount,  and,  by  God's  grace,  we 
propose  to  put  its  efficiency  to  the  test. 

Brethren,  we  have  done.  We  have  told  you  who  we  are,  and  what 
we  are.  We  greet  you  in  the  ties  of  Christian  brotherhood.  We  desire 
to  cultivate  peace  and  charity  with  all  our  fellow  Christians  throughout 
the  world.  We  invite  to  ecclesiastical  communion  all  who  maintain  our 
principles  of  faith  and  order.  And  now  we  commend  you  to  God  and 
the  Word  of  His  grace.  We  devoutly  pray  that  the  whole  Catholic 
Church  may  be  afresh  baptised  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  she  may 
speedily  be  stirred  up  to  give  the  Lord  no  rest  until  He  establish  and 
make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth. 

[Signed,]  13.  M.  Palmer,  Moderator. 

Jno.  N.  Waddel,  Stated  Clerk. 

Joseph  R.  Wilson,  Permanent  Clerk. 

I).  McNeill  Turner,  Temporary  Clerk. 

Ministers. — John  S.  Wilson,  Wm.  Henry  Foote,  John  H.  Bocock, 
Samuel  R.  Houston,  Francis  McFarland,  W.  T.  Richardson,  Peyton 
Harrison,  Theodoric  Pryor,  Samuel  D.  Stuart,  James  B.  Ramsey, 
Drury  Lacy,  P.  H.  Daltom  Robert  Hett  Chapman,  J.  W.  Elliott, 
R.  B.  McMullen,  Shepard  Wells,  J.  II.  Lorance,  John  B.  Adger,  John 
S.  Harris,  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  D.  E.  Frierson,  J.  II.  Thornwell,  A.  W. 
Leland.  J.  E.  Dubose,  N.  A.  Pratt,  G.  W.  Boggs,  Robert  B.  White. 
A.  B.  McCorkle,  John  A.  Smylie,  James  A.  Lyon,  J.  Franklin  Ford, 
W.  C.  Emerson,  John  Hunter,  Richmond  Mclnnis,  W.  D.  Moore,  J.  II. 
Gillespie,  W,  N.  Frierson.  A.  H.  Caldwell,  Thos.  R.  Welch,  John  I. 
Boozer,  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  R.  M.  Loughridge,  Rufus  W.  Bailey,  Hillery 
Moseley,  R.  F.  Bunting,  Levi  Tenney. 

Ruling  Elders. — James  D,  Armstrong,  B.  F.  Renick,  J.  W. 
Gilkeson,  J.  L.  Campbell,  T.  E.  Perkinson,  Wm.  F.  C.  Gregory, 
Samuel  McCorkle,  Jesse  H.  Lindsay,  Charles  Phillips,  James  H. 
Dickson,  J.  G.  Shepherd,  James  G.  Ramsey,  William  Murdock, 
Samuel  B.  McAdams,  A.  W.  Putnam,  Lewis  B.  Thornton,  Thos.  C. 
Perrin,  Job  Johnstone,  R.  S.  Hope,  J.  S.  Thompson,  W.  Veronneau 
Finley,  John  Bonner,  William  A.  Forward,  D.  C.  Houston,  Wm.  P. 
Webb,  James  Montgomery,  W.  H.  Simpson,  Wm.  C.  Black,  David 
Hadden,  H.  H.  Kimmons,  J.  T.  Swavne,  T.  L.  Dunlap,  Edward  W. 
Wright, 


